UFC Fight Night 129: Maia vs. Usman is Golden Following Official Weigh-ins
UFC Fight Night 129: Maia vs. Usman marks the fight promotion’s debut in Santiago, Chile. Despite the fight card traveling a rocky road to get here, following Friday's official weigh-in, the event is now set for Saturday at Movistar Arena.
The fight card was initially slated to feature Kamaru Usman squaring off with fellow rising star Santiago Ponzinibbio, but the Argentinian fighter had to withdraw because of an injury. The UFC Fight Night 129 headliner did not suffer any drop-off, however, as former welterweight title challenger Demian Maia – who currently sits at No. 7 in the Welterweight Top 10 Rankings – agreed to step in.
The revamped main event is now official as Maia stepped on the scale at 171 pounds and Usman at 170 pounds.
A light heavyweight battle between former champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and rising contender Volkan Oezdemir was supposed to occupy the co-main event slot. Issues surrounding travel because of an ongoing Oezdemir legal issue made it necessary to move that bout to the UFC Fight Night 134 fight card slated for July in Hamburg, Germany.
In its absence, a pivotal strawweight bout between Alexa Grasso and Tatiana Suarez has moved into the co-headlining spot. The winner promises to make a move up the Top 10 Rankings and edge closer to title contention.
Grasso and Suarez each weighed 115 pounds at the official weigh-in.
None of the fighters on the UFC Chile card had any issues with the scale.
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UFC Fight Night 129: Maia vs. Usman Weigh-in Results
Main Card (10 p.m. ET on FS1)
Demian Maia (171) vs. Kamaru Usman (170)
Alexa Grasso (115) vs. Tatiana Suarez (115)
Jared Cannonier (205) vs. Dominick Reyes (205)
Diego Rivas (136) vs. Guido Cannetti (136)
Veronica Macedo (126) vs. Andrea Lee (125)
Vicente Luque (170) vs. Chad Laprise (171)
Prelims (8 p.m. ET on FS2)
Zak Cummings (170) vs. Michel Prazeres (170)
Brandon Moreno (125) vs. Alexandre Pantoja (125)
Poliana Botelho (115) vs. Syuri Kondo (116)
Gabriel Benitez (145) vs. Humberto Bandenay (145)
Early Prelims (6:30 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass)
Enrique Barzola (145) vs. Brandon Davis (146)
Henry Briones (136) vs. Frankie Saenz (136)
Claudio Puelles (154) vs. Felipe Silva (156)
Tune-in to MMAWeekly.com on Saturday for full UFC Fight Night 129: Maia vs. Usman Live Results and Fight Stats. The first bout is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT.
